Context: CHAPTER I Even in college Alfred Hardy was a young man of fixed ideas
and high ideals and proud of it. His friend, Jimmy Jinks, had few ideas and no
ideals, and was glad of it, and before half of their first college term had
passed, Jimmy had ridded himself of all such worries as making up his own mind
or directing his own morals. Alfred did all these things so much better, argued
Jimmy, furthermore, Alfred LIKED to do them–Jimmy owed it to his friend to give
him that pleasure.

Routing Transformer: And the arrangement had worked very well up to the time of
the wedding.Alfred's lack of ideals and his desire to please was not one of
those traits that lead to brilliant success. On the contrary, Alfred had his
faults, and one of them was a somewhat pronounced love of teasing Jimmy, which
amused Jimmy and gave him a sense of superiority. But it was part of Alfred's
charm that he was in no sense conceited, and that he never thought of himself as
above Jimmy. He did not pretend to know things because he did not, and was as
unconscious of Jimmy's own ignorance as of his own superiority. He liked Jimmy
because Jimmy liked him, and the liking was mutual.Jimmy, as I have said, had a
very definite and rather troublesome duty to perform. He had a career mapped out
for him, and he had a set of opinions regarding his duty and his career which no
one else was to share. The result was that Jimmy was as unwilling as Alfred was
to make the latter his partner in the enterprise.It was not the fact that Jimmy
had set out to be a great writer that counted with Alfred. Alfred was very fond
of writers, and he thought Jimmy might have a big future as a writer if he took
time enough and worked hard. But Alfred was a young man of splendid ideals, and
he considered himself entitled to exact as much deference and obedience as if he
had been a father. Jimmy thought Alfred a conceited prig, and was determined to
let him know that his opinion was not worth much in the matter of respect.He was
not the sort of fellow who would be swayed by the opinions of any one else, even
Alfred. But Jimmy thought Alfred the very ideal of honor,and that Alfred would
fight for him to the bitter end, if he thought it necessary to fight for him.So
Jimmy's meeting with Jimmy's father, and the incident that followed, had no real
bearing on the great adventure into which Jimmy was going.But Jimmy thought it
necessary to look at it from Alfred's point of view,and to use Alfred's point of
view.He was seated at breakfast when his father, with his usual preoccupied air,
came into the room. He greeted Jimmy and asked if he was ready to start."Yes,
father. I'm ready," said Jimmy, glad to have some one to talk to.His father
looked at him curiously, but said nothing. He came over to the table and took a
seat at it."Sit down, son," he said. "I want to talk to you."Jimmy sat down, and
his father looked at him, first with astonishment and then with amusement. He
was not thinking of Jimmy's youth and his inability to maintain any conversation
with his father, but rather of a certain youth in Chicago who had just left
college and was going to college again. Jimmy knew he would be laughed at, and
the more laughed at the more.He blushed and smiled. He didn't know what his
father meant, but he had a feeling that he was being made fun of. He was anxious
to put an end to the situation."What are you going to college for, Jimmy?" asked
his father.Jimmy blushed again and laughed. "I don't know, father," he said."I
thought you said you weren't going to college."Jimmy gave him a quick, searching
look. "Yes, father, I was. That is, I said I was not going to. I'm going to
college.""Where are you going?" asked his father.Jimmy tried to think of
something else to say. He wanted to begin as soon as possible, and this did not
seem to be a very good reason for leaving off. He did not want to talk about
himself."I don't know, father. I am going to the university.""Are you going to
Cambridge?" asked his father. Jimmy nodded."Where are you going to?" he
repeated.Jimmy did not know whether to laugh or frown. His father was looking at
him with a quizzical smile, and Jimmy's mind worked rapidly. There was a story
of a boy in Chicago who went to college and did not get through.That would be
his case. He would be able to tell his father all about it,and then, when he was
through, his father would say: "Well, my boy, I'm afraid you're not going to be
a success in college. You may be a very brilliant young man, but you can't be a
success.""I think I can be," said Jimmy, laughing."Perhaps," said his father
dryly. "But you are going to study the colleges that they give to the students.
They are as hard as nails."Jimmy looked at his father. He thought that he
understood. He knew that there were men in Chicago who wanted to be college men,
and who did not have to study. They spent their time loafing around clubs, doing
nothing and talking about it. He wondered if this was his father. If it was, he
felt that it would be a great thing to be a Chicago man. And yet he could not
help wondering why his father should want him to go to college.He did not know
that his father was a very clever man. He could tell that in a minute, but he
did not want his son to know it. Jimmy had to admit that his father was very
clever."I am glad you think I can go to college," he said."So am I," said his
father.Jimmy looked up at him with a bright smile. He knew that his father was a
good judge of a joke."You're all right, father," he said. "You don't want me to
go to college. Why?""Because I don't want you to go to college," said his father
quietly."Why not?" asked Jimmy, puzzled."I have reasons," said his father. "You
see, there is an old lady living at a place called Peltonville, away out in the
country, who is my wife's sister. She has a brother who is a bachelor. He is a
hard worker and keeps his income together. He doesn't want a son. His sister has
one son. He is my nephew."Jimmy stared at his father in amazement. He could not
understand. And then it dawned on him that he was being deliberately tricked."I
suppose you want me to go to college for my aunt's sake," he said."No," said his
father, "not for your aunt's sake. I want you to go to college because it is the
thing to do. If you go to college, you will be in a way of earning your
living."Jimmy looked at his father with admiration and affection. He was not
sure whether it was right for him to go to college or not, but he knew that his
father wanted him to go. So he said no more, but his face was very grave.
